


Stand By Me

by Criminalminds183



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Criminalminds183/pseuds/Criminalminds183
Summary: Emily, JJ, Spencer, and Penelope run an underground operation to find criminals, they then sell the information to the victims familes, who then kill the criminal. The BAU, (Hotchner, Rossi, Morgan, Lynch, Callahan, Lewis, and Alvez) are determined to find them. As the rivarly between the team leaders (Hotchner and Prentiss) grow, so do feelings, and Hotch slowly falls in love with Emily.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 18
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily, JJ, Spencer, and Penelope run an underground operation to find criminals, they then sell the information to the victims familes, who then kill the criminal. The BAU, (Hotchner, Rossi, Morgan, Lynch, Callahan, Lewis, and Alvez) are determined to find them. As the rivarly between the team leaders (Hotchner and Prentiss) grow, so do feelings, and Hotch slowly falls in love with Emily.

Emily smiled at the guard. She was wearing a fancy dress, he hair was done, and she was wearing makeup. The young guard smiled at her in a way in which he clearly thought was charming. The boy started speaking in English. Clearly he wasn’t fluent, and was just trying to impress Emily. 

“Hello. Welcome to party. Invitation?” He asked. His thick Italian accent made Emily laugh to herself. Pulling out the invitation Emily had received, she handed it to him. He looked it over, and then stepped out of the way, letting her in, grinning at her as she passed. Emily smiled graciously as she passed, but rolling her eyes as soon as he couldn’t see.  
She entered the brightly lit room. A women greeted her at the door.  
“Emilia Prentiss, it is so good to see you. The last time I saw you, you were still a young girl. Oh how much you have grown!” Lady Vizoli said. Emily shook her hand and smiled. There were a few more people coming in, so as soon as Vizoli was occupied, Emily followed the sound of chatter into the ball room. Many important and well dressed people were there, but Emily was looking for one in particular. Recalling the mans features she saw on his picture, Emily found him. He was talking to two women. He was dangerously close to one of them, who didn’t seem very happy with where his hand was straying. Emily tilted her head, looking at the man. He was facing her, and she made eye contact with him. Emily smiled suggestively at him, and she could almost see the excitement in his pudgy face. She turned around, and when she did, she knew he was checking her out. She felt a need to take 3 showers. She ignored the feeling however. A few minutes later, she heard him coming up behind her.  
“Well hello, how are you?” Emily asked him. He settled his hand on her inner thigh. Emily was used to creeps like this. She smiled at him, encouraging him. She poured him some wine.  
6 glasses of wine and this poor of an excuse of a man was about ready to pass out. Emily lead him to an empty bathroom. He excitedly followed, but Emily timed it almost perfectly. Right after she shut the door, he promptly passed out. Emily caught him and lowered him to the ground, the man breaking his skull open was not part of the plan. Emily felt around in his pockets and found the flash drive she was looking for. He never went anywhere without it, not because he needed it with him, but because he couldn’t trust leaving the flash drive anywhere else. Humming to herself, Emily pulled a laptop out of her purse. As she was copying it onto her computer, the man started to groan. Emily swore to herself. Finishing they copy, she quickly returned the flash drive to his pocket. His eyes were unfocused and he still seemed half asleep. Praying that he wouldn’t remember what had happened when he awoke, or what she looked like, she packed her computer and exited the bathroom. Slipping a ready made ‘out of order’ sign on the door as she shut it behind her. She tried sneaking out quietly, but was pulled into the party by another women who knew her mother. Emily had to deal with almost an hour of pleasentries and small talk before she was able to leave.  
As she left, she smiled once more at the guard, who looked disappointed she wasn’t drunk. Pulling out her phone, she called JJ. JJ picked up on the first ring. 

“God Emily you scared us. We told you in and out in a half hour.” JJ said. 

“Sorry about that, you know how diplomats are.” Emily said lightly. She heard JJ sigh. 

“Ok were right around the corner.” She said. Emily said ok and hung up. A few seconds later, a black car pulled up. Emily got in, and smiled to the driver. Her good friend, Penelope Garcia. 

“Hey Em. See Jayje, I told you we didn’t need to worry.” She said. JJ and Reid were in the back. Reid was reading, as he so often was. Even though it was dark, he was using a small penlight. 

“Don’t do that Spencer, you’ll strain your eyes.” Emily called. His eyes snapped up, he didn’t seem to have realized she had came in. 

“Oh, hi Emily.” He said. He put the book and light away. 

“Oh, I forgot to mention, we have to move. Preferably out of country.” Emily said casually. Garcia swerved. 

“What? Why?” JJ asked. 

“The guy woke up as I was copying the file.” She said. 

“Probably should’ve started with that one hun.” Garcia said after she recovered. 

“Aww, I like it here. The food is good.” Reid said. Emily frowned. 

“I know, I did too. I don’t think he’s going to remember what happened. But I don’t know if we should risk it. What do you think JJ?” Emily asked. JJ sighed. 

“Your right. Interpol is already onto us. We should probably move to the US. The Interpol would have to deal with the international affairs with the CIA, and their all a bunch of idiots.” She said. They all nodded. Silence fell in the car. Reid had started reading again. Penelope was humming quietly to herself. JJ was texting feverishly on her phone. Emily leaned her head on the window, watching the streets pass by. She wouldn’t be upset to leave Italy behind. She had some memories here that she felt would be best forgotten. She did feel bad for her friends though. They had to be just as flexible as her. It was easy for the four of them though, there was nobody to wonder about where they were except for each other. The four of them is all they each had left. 

Emily and Reid had known each other for the longest. Reid was like a little brother to her. She was incredibly protective of him. They had met in junior high at a boarding school in America. From then on, they kept in touch, and when Spencers dad left and mom admitted to a full time care facility, she was the person he went too. Emily had a large trust fund because of her parents, which is what allowed them to travel so much. Together, they started solving crimes. At first for the local PD, but when they saw how many criminals like rapists, pedophiles, and murderers walked free because of the system, they couldn’t help the PD anymore. They moved away and started solving crimes themselves, and then giving information of the criminal to the familys of the victims, and the familes did the rest. It was hard just the two of them. They weren’t very coordinated, so they were almost caught many times. 

Then, in an attempt to get more tech savvy, Emily met Penelope Garcia, who’s flair and personality caught Emilys attention. They became friends quickly. Then she introduced Penelope to Reid, and they hit it off really well too. When Garcia’s mom and dad died, she would’ve been lost if it hadn’t been for Emily and Reid, who took her in. Garcia’s tech skill turned out to be invaluable, and Garcia soon became a full time member of their team. 

The three of them moved back to Europe and met JJ, who was at college there on a scholarship. Reid and JJ hit it off really well, but it soon became clear that they would only ever be friends. But through Reid JJ met Garcia and Emily, and the four of them became super close. JJ was at school to be a press liason, which turned out to be incredibly useful for the group. Soon, JJ became a part of their team. The 4 of them have had ups and downs, but in the end they always come out on top. Emily was kicked from her thoughts when Penelope pulled into the driveway of their rented space. And 2 hours later, they were pulling back out of the driveway, saying silent goodbyes to the place they had called home for so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n- so i started this back in september but didnt go on, ive decided to continue, but rewrite the first 8 chapters. I hope you enjoyed this :)


	2. chapter 2

Hotch groaned at the sound of his phone ringing. Rolling over to his phone he glanced at the time. It was nearly two in the morning. Cursing the soul who would call this time of night, he picked it up. Figuring it must have been important. 

“Aaron Hotchner.” He said, his voice thick with sleep. 

“Aaron, meet me at Janes Bar in ten minutes.” Said a male voice, it was urgent. Hotch recognized the voice. 

“Vera Amitucci?” He asked tiredly. The Italian accent was unmistakable. 

“Please, Aaron.” Is all he said. Hotch sighed. He trusted Vera with his life, and if Vera needed his help, he was obligated to go 

“Ok, I’ll be there.” Hotch said. Vera didn’t reply, he just hung up. Hotch smiled grimly at the remembrance of the fact that Vera doesn’t trust the phones. Quickly putting on Jeans and a jacket, he slipped on his shoes and left. Jack was with Haley tonight. He left quietly and arrived at Janes bar 9 minutes later. The bar was open until 4, but was empty on a Tuesday night. Empty except for a man sitting at the bar, sipping straight vodka. Hotch refrained from chuckling. It had been awhile since he had spoken to Vera, and his antics were curious enough without being Italian. 

“Vera, long time no see.” Hotch said. Vera stood up and shook his hand. Hotch was glad Vera didn’t look as worried as he sounded on the phone. 

“Aaron, great to see you.” He said. They sat down together. 

“Would you like anything?” Asked the bartender. 

“Uh, a sparkling water would be fine.” Hotch said. The man nodded and went to get the drink. 

“So Vera, what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until morning?” Hotch asked. Vera looked around, making sure there was no one listening. Hotch couldn’t help but be curious as to what Vera was going to say. He didn’t normally make jokes, otherwise Hotch would’ve thought this was some sort of prank. 

“There’s an international crew of criminals.” He started. But he stopped as the bartender came over to give Hotch his drink. The bartender stood a few feet away, but was clearly still listening. 

“Lets go somewhere else.” Hotch suggested. Vera nodded. Vera payed for his drink as well as Hotch’s. They left. It was nice out, so they went to the park and sat on a bench. 

“So, an international crime ring?” Hotch asked.

“No, no, not a ring, just a small group, as far as we know there 3 of them.” He said. Hotch nodded. 

“Ok, what about them, shouldn’t the CIA be handiling this if it’s international?” Hotch asked. 

“The CIA cant know about this. If you helped me, you would be helping a friend.” Vera said. 

“What?” Hotch asked. He never thought Vera would ask anything like that. “Vera you know I can’t do that.” He said. 

“Listen Aaron, the CIA has some secrets that can’t be publicized. And the group of criminals are coming dangerously close to discovering it.” He said. Hotch still was confused. 

“Why would you care about whether or not the CIA was exposed?” He asked. 

“Because once the CIA know they’ve been discovered, they wont try and bring these people to justice, they’ll just kill them.” He said. Hotch though he knew where Vera was going with this. 

“So you want me to find this group before they find out this ‘big secret’ or before the CIA kills them?” Hotch asked sarcastically. This whole thing sounded absurd to Hotch. 

“Aaron, im serious, this is a matter of life and death.” Vera said. Hotch shrugged. 

“Yeah, for criminals who deserve it.” He muttered. 

“Please Aaron.” Hotch furrowed his brow. He was confused, how could a group of 3 people possibly cause this much of an issue?

“Yes. Aaron, your team is incredible, and if anyone can find these people under the radar, it’s your team.” Vera said. Hotch said nothing, he just sipped his drink. Vera was right. His team were the strongest group of profilers in the country. Hotch had no doubt in his mind that if these people came to the states, then they could find them. 

“I don’t know Vera, this seems awfully, how do I put it, illegal.” Hotch said. Hotch was just stalling at this point. Vera knew that advancing in the FBI didn’t mean nearly as much to Hotch as it once had. He had lost that chance long ago, he was happy with where he was at. Hotch was deeply indebted to the older man, and he really had no choice. He just wasn’t sure how his team would take it. He knew the team would be hesitant to trust Amitucci, but they would trust Hotch. And Hotch trusted Vera. Hotch also was hesitant to accept because they would have to investigate after hours as no one at the FBI could suspect what they were doing. 

“I need to talk to my team first.” Hotch said. Vera looked relieved. 

“Ok, thank you Aaron. Thank you so much.” He said. Hotch nodded. 

“I can’t promise anything. How long has this group been in the states?” He asked. Vera hesitated. 

“There not.” He said. Before Hotch could say anything he spoke again. “Im not asking you to go anywhere, im asking you to first connect every death you can to them.” Vera said. 

“You mean find out how many deaths their responsible for?” Hotch asked. 

“Yes yes, whatever. I have already accounted for 4 of them for sure. But I supect there is over 100.” Vera said. Hotch took a breath. It was late, and he needed to be in early tomorrow. 

“Ok, I’ll see if I can get the team on board. I have to go, I’ll keep in touch.” Hotch said, standing up. Vera stood up as well and shook his hand, thanking Hotch again. They parted ways, and Hotch made his way back to the parking lot of the bar. His head was   
spinning. Who were these people? And why did Vera care so much about theses specific criminals? And what was this ‘super special’ secret that the CIA is hiding? These questions echoed through his mind, and he was so preoccupied he almost ran a red light. He got home at a quarter to 3. Slipping back into bed, he fell asleep, his mind still whirling about the nights events. 

Hotch woke up to the sound of his alarm. It seemed like he had just laid back down to go to bed. Getting up slowly, he got dressed and made coffee before leaving. He was still thinking about Vera’s request. He was going to have to gather the group. The team had been without a case for a little while, they had been given a break after a particularly long and painful case. 

Hotch entered the BAU a little late, and he was thinking about his team. They had all come from different backgrounds before being recruited to the FBI, besides David Rossi, who was one of the founders of the BAU. He had retired for 7 years before coming back. Derek Morgan, who was like the guard dog of the team. He was skilled in profiling, but even better in the field. Kate Callahan and Alex Blake joined the team at the same time, they were good friends. Then there was Kevin Lynch, who was the technical analyst and comedian of the group. (or at least he thought so). They were family, and if something happened to one of them, it happened to all of them. 

Hotch was interrupted from his thoughts as he heard Kevin call to him as the elevator door was shutting, putting a hand to stop it, he nodded at Kevin as he entered the elevator. 

“Hey sir, how are you? You look tired.” Kevin said. Hotch hesitated. 

“Nah, Jack had a cold is all. How was your night?” Hotch lied. He could tell Kevin was confused, he knew Jack was with Haley last night, Hotch had never lied to any of them before. Hotch didn’t say anything as there were microphones and cameras in the elevator. Hotch just looked meaningfully at him and hoped he would understand. He did.

“It was fine. Do we have a case?” he asked. Kevin knew they didn’t, as most consults came through him.

“Yes, we’ll brief in 20.” Hotch said. Kevin nodded and fell silent. Confused, but excited. Nothing ever happened at work. Besides of course the murder and the death. 

Hotch announced to the team they had a case, and everyone gathered in the briefing room. In there, he was able to speak freely. There were no microphones in this room as there was often confidential information being spoken about in here. 

“Ok, this is really important that whatever is spoken in here stays between the team ok?” Hotch asked. They all nodded, curiosity peaked. “Last night I was approached by an old friend, he is a retired Unit Chief who worked for interpol. He asked us to find all of the victims of these people.” Hotch said. Kate interrupted. 

“Interpol? Shouldn’t he be going to the CIA if its international?” She said. Kevin punched her. 

“Don’t interrupt.” He said. Kate rolled her eyes.

“Shut up Lynch, I was asking a question.” She said. Kevin was about to argue when Hotch interrupted. 

“Vera told me that he couldn’t go to the CIA safely. And that if he told them, the CIA would go to any means to get rid of them.” He said. 

“Vera what?” Rossi asked. “Amitucci?” Hotch turned to him. 

“You know Amitucci?” He asked. Rossi nodded. 

“He sent me some files this morning. He didn’t tell me what they were for, just that I would understand soon.” Rossi said. Hotch nodded. Vera was very cautious, and he obviously wasn’t kidding around. 

“I’m not sure why this is so important to him, but I trust Vera with his life. If he says this is important, so do I.” Hotch said. 

“Well if you trust him so do I.” Morgan said. Everyone else chimed in in agreement. Hotch felt a swell of pride when he heard this. He didn’t know where this case would go, but he knew he wouldn’t be in it alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n- hey guys, thanks for reading this so far. Reviews do a lot for my motivation so your welcome to comment. Thanks bye lol


	3. chapter 3

Emily and her team were packing up again. For the last 6 months, they continued to solve unsolved crimes. No matter how small it was, if there was a murder reported, or a rape, they spent there time hunting down the criminal. After finding them, giving the information to the families for free. Eventually, they were discovered, and had to move again. Because the stayed within California’s state lines, the FBI nor the CIA got involved, but they knew as soon as the started up again somewhere else in the country, the FBI would take notice. 

They weren’t particularly scared of the FBI, their past encounters with them had proven that a lot of the Agents their weren’t the brightest bulbs in the tree, however, they had enjoyed their time when they just had to focus on evading the California State police. The team decided on Virginia. Firstly, because they knew it was the FBI’s home base, and by moving their business there, it would definitely be a surprise to the people trying to find them. Secondly, Garcia had taken notice of an online hacker tracing Garcia’s history. He was far behind, but Garcia was still curious as to who this mystery hacker was, and she knew he was based in Virginia. 

It had been a few days since moving to the apartment in Virginia. They had all just been relaxing inside, not ‘laying low’ because they had no need to do that, they were just taking a well deserved break. JJ and Reid were playing chess, and Garcia and Emily were online shopping. JJ had made brownies, and they were all gorging themselves full. 

“JJ, you know that’s not how the rook moves.” Reid said exasperatedly. JJ furrowed her brows. 

“What the heck is a rook?” She asked. Reid sighed. 

“JJ, you know that’s not how the castle moves.” He said again. JJ shrugged. 

“The castle is like the queen, it can move as many squares at it wants, and in any direction.” JJ said. 

“Not quite JJ.” Garcia piped up from where her and Emily were lying on the couch looking at Garcia’s laptop. 

“Checkmate.” Reid said. JJ groaned. 

“Screw you Spencer.” She said. Reid laughed, and reset the chess board. JJ got up and sat on the armrest of the couch that Garcia and Emily were on. 

“No, definitely not Emily, those colors do not look good together.” JJ said. Emily bit her lip, looking at the sweater. 

“Hey Em, do you wanna play a game?” Reid asked, nodding to the chess set. 

“Sorry boy genius, im gonna have to pass on that one.” She said, not looking away from the screen. Garcia popped up from where she was lying next to Emily. 

“I will!” She said. Reid suppressed a sigh. Playing chess with Garcia was like playing chess with an excited puppy who knew the rules, but just didn’t like to play with them. Garcia sat down across from him and JJ took Garcia’s spot next to Emily, who was still scrolling through the online website. They just hung out for most of the afternoon, until Garcia got a ping on her computer. Standing up from her chair she hurried over to her computer. No one really noticed until Garcia started typing feverishly and grinning. 

“What is it Pen?” JJ asked. 

“Mystery hacker is back at it.” She muttered. 

"Talk to us Penelope, what’s going on?” Emily asked after a few minutes of Garcia muttering under her breath. 

“Im hoping my firewalls take him awhile to get around. He’s using official VPN’s and protections around his pc, which means my mystery hacker works for the FBI.” Garcia said casually. The others gasped. 

“But your mystery hacker has been on us since California?” Reid said. Garcia nodded, grinning. 

“Wait, im so close, just a couple more splashes of digital water onto his 17 firewalls and… Bam! My mystery hacker is none other then Kevin Lynch, technical analyst for the BAU in Quantico Virginia.” Garcia said with a satisfied smile. Leaning back, she looked back at the others.

“So the FBI has been on us since California.” Emily said. Garcia nodded. 

“Apparently. Poor Kevin, he’ll have to redo all of his protections. It’s his fault though, for messing with Queen Garcia.” Garcia said smugly. 

“So he knows that you hacked him?” Emily asked. Garcia nodded. Then she looked worried. 

“Oh no, is that bad? I didn’t know Emily ohmygod im sorry-“ Emily cut her off. 

“No, no, It’s fine Garcia, the BAU will just know we have a hacker with us, not a big deal. What is the BAU anyway?” Emily asked. Garcia went back to her computer and did a quick search. 

“It’s the behavioral analysis unit, headed up by the Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner.” Garcia said. After a couple seconds of silence, JJ spoke. 

“Ok, well, not a big deal, we can just move again –” Emily interrupted her. 

“No, we’re not moving away.” She said firmly. JJ shook her head. 

“Em, these aren’t normal agents, they’re profilers, which mean’s they aren’t people we can just hide from.” JJ said. Emily turned away. 

“We’re not running away.” She said again. Emily didn’t leave any room for arguments, so none of them rose any. Even though they were a team, Emily was the leader, and she had the final say. Of course, there was nothing binding them to stay with the group, but none of them would ever even consider leaving the team. Emily had went to her room and shut the door, this normally meant she wasn’t coming out until she had an idea. The other three bid each other good night and headed to there perspective sleeping areas. They only had two rooms. Reid got his own, JJ, Garcia, and Emily rotated sharing the bed and sleeping on the couch. Tonight, it was JJ’s and Emily’s turn. 

JJ silently creeped into the room, expecting Emily to not acknowledge her coming in. 

“JJ, you don’t have to tip toe, im not mad or something.” Emily commented from the bed. She was reading a book under the covers. JJ stood up straight.

“I know you aren’t.” Jj said. Emily snorted at the obvious lie. They were both tired, and after they both brushed their teeth they shut off the lights, saying their final goodnights, they both drifted off into dreamless sleep. 

...

Garcia woke up first. It was early, Garcia tended to wake up early when she slept on the couch. She didn’t want to wake the others, so she walked around the kitchen silently, making eggs for them all. She opened her laptop after dishing herself some of her home made eggs. Eggs and Mac and Cheese were the only things Garcia knew how to cook. JJ was the one who did most of the cooking and baking, when they weren’t ordering takeout of course. 

Garcia was playing a game when she got a notification from a new channel she was subscribed too. Clicking the live video link, she gasped. 

“Emily! JJ! Spencer!” Garcia screeched, her mouth half full of eggs. She was too surprised to remember to swallow first. All three of them came bursting out moments later. Wiping sleep from his eyes, Reid ran to Garcia. 

“Are you having a stroke? Touch your nose, no, wait, smile.” He said, momentarily forgetting the sign of a stroke in his sleepy daze. 

“Shut up boy genius, listen.” Garcia said, nodding her head to the laptop. She turned up the volume to max so the others could hear. They all recognized Aaron Hotchner from his picture, but he looked significantly more tired in real life. He was at a press conference, and was speaking about a case.   
“As most of you know, 4 couples have been kidnapped and murdered by a group of people. Currently we have a few suspects in custody, but we would advise the people to follow the new curfew issued, you must not be outside by yourself past 9pm, make sure you know where you loved ones are, and if you know anything, or if you now someone who might know something, please call the FBI tip line at 403-291-0717. Thank you.” Is all he said. The reporters were all shouting questions, but Aaron Hotchner stepped off the pedestal, and a short blonde woman took the microphone. 

“That is all for today, no questions.” She said. She followed the agent out of frame. The live ended, and left the four of them silent. Normally, they would’ve jumped at the chance to find whoever was killing these couples, but they would be going up against the BAU. It’s not that Emily was worried, she knew her and her team was more then capable of evading them, but if both teams were working on the same case, it was seemingly impossible to avoid them. The 4 of them shared a look, then dispersed back to their rooms to get ready for the day, the egg’s laid forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n- hey guys how yall doing? I can tell you that Covid is stupid and horrible and completely stupid. Cases in MN are spiking so sports are canceled, and schools in the cities are going to all online. My school never did a hybrid, we've been all online since the beginning of the year, so no change for me, but still. High school is kind of sucky, i wish people told you that before you started. It's especially sucky during a pandemic. Anyways, i hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm not 100% sure where i'm going to go with this story, but I'll figure something out lol.


	4. Chapter 4

Hotch walked quickly back to the building. He wasn’t in a mood to talk to Strauss, but the small women quickened her steps to catch up to him. 

“Hotchner, I need to speak with you.” She said as they walked to the main entrance. 

“Ok.” Is all Hotch said. He opened the door for her, he knew Strauss was looking for anything to lower Hotch’s reputation, and she would even go as far as using the fact that he wouldn’t open doors for people against him. They went into the elevator together and shared a short but very awkward ride, not looking at each other. They got to the 7th floor and stepped off. Hotch lead the way to his office. They almost never had a meeting in her office. They got in and Hotch sat at his desk, Strauss remained standing, he inwardly rolled his eyes at this weak attempt at remaining in control. Hotch stayed silent, waiting for her to speak. 

“The past few cases your team has seemed…” She took a long pause, apparently trying to find the right word. 

“Distracted.” She finished. Hotch raised his eyebrows. He had been expecting this for awhile. It was true, but only partially. The team never showed any signs of being overwhelmed or tired during cases. There casework was just as good as it ever was, probably even better because they had been spending so much time together outside of work, there team work was better then ever, and it really helped during normal cases, but there tiredness showed through on the smaller things. Like there reports, late consult cases, and using up there personal days when they never used to do that. 

“We’ve been overworked.” Hotch said truthfully. The bureau was assigning them to go into the field on more and more cases. Add that to the 60 consult cases from around the country that the team gets per day? They were bound to be tired. Now this of course was only part of it, they were spending large amounts of their free time together, at Rossi’s mansion, working hours on the case that they had dubbed ‘The painted horsemen’ case. They knew more then anyone that naming criminals wasn’t a good idea, but the more they worked on the case, the less they thought of this group as criminals. 

They all had a lot of knowledge of the broken criminal justice system, and while KILLING these people was still not ok, they all had started to question the morality of it. Over the past 6 months they had been able to tie almost 40 murders across the US to them, but it wasn’t just normal one-time offenders, the people the Horsemen had gotten killed were serial rapists, sexual sadists, and political figures/people in the public eye who had done horrible things to get there. Kate and Tara (who had worked in the crimes against children department) had both openly said that these people were doing public services. 

“We’ve trimmed your caseload down 10%” Strauss argued. 

“That’s not enough and you know it. We have an average of 4 in-field cases per month. Most cases take around 5 days to solve. We’re spending more time out of Virginia then we are inside.” Hotch said. Strauss pulled her lips into a tight line. The BAU was the best team the FBI had by far, and the shoddy paperwork they were receiving didn’t change that fact. The team had the best rate of success on cases, received the best feedback from the local precincts as well as the families of the victims, and Strauss couldn’t afford to lower their caseload any lower then they already had. She didn’t tell him this though.

“I’ll do my best, but Agent, there’s something else distracting your team. Find out what it is.” Strauss said with finality. He nodded, and Strauss left. Sighing to himself, he looked at the pile of paperwork he had on his desk. Looking out of the window at the busy bullpen, he noticed none of the team members were at their desks. Hotch stood up and went outside, leaning over the rail to see if Rossi was in his office, Hotch furrowed his brow in confusion when he saw he wasn’t. Then he noticed Kate, who was trying to be inconspicuos, but was gesturing wildly, trying to catch his attention. Once he noticed her, she beckoned him over. Going over to him, she grabbed his arm and dragged him to Kevin’s office. Hotch let her drag him, he had no idea what was going on. They arrived and Kate did a special knock on Kevin’s door. The door opened and Hotch found the whole team crowded in there, looking at Kevins computers. Hotch followed Kate in. 

“Kevin, what happened?” He asked. 

“Last night Hotch, I don’t know when, but I wasn’t here, I came in the morning to find my computers hacked, whoever it was was able to get past the FBI’s firewalls and protections, only an elite could have pulled it off.” Kevin said. Despite being hacked, he looked to be in awe of whoever this mystery person was. 

“Do you know who it was?” Hotch asked. Kevin nodded. 

“Well, sort of. I had been following the history of the horsemen, as I do, and I was finally able to get past one of her protections in what I thought was a quiet and unnoticeable manner, but if she found out someone had broken past her walls, then she would’ve been able to find who it was. It’s kind of like capture the flag in a way. If someone is in your zone, you’re able to tag them, but someone can manage getting in without being seen, then they have almost free reign.” He explained. Kevin had long since learned that if he didn’t explain things in a simpler manner the others would get annoyed. 

“Well, if whoever it was hacked you, shouldn’t you be able to find them?” Hotch asked. Kevin shook his head. 

“Well, normally, yes, but whoever this person is is completely legit. I wasn’t able to get out in time, so now im in jail, and it’s going to take me awhile to get out.” Kevin said. Hotch took a breath. The computer looked fine to him, but he wasn’t the computer genius. 

“So your saying one of the horsemen did this?” Morgan asked. Kevin nodded. 

“Well this changes things, instead of 3, there 4.” Rossi said. Tara shook her head. 

“Not necessarily, one of the others might have been technologically savvy and we may just have not known.” She said. 

“Right, and now this idiot got caught, we’re still two steps behind them.” Kate said, smacking Kevin on the back of his head. Kevin coughed. 

“Ignoring that I was just insulted by a moron, we’re actually more like 10 steps behind them. Maybe even 15.” Kevin admitted. Hotch sighed. 

“Ok, everyone, I just had a meeting with Strauss who’s been suspicious of our lack of effort on our paperwork. Now I know that all of us are guilty, including me, and I would say clean it up, but Strauss isn’t stupid enough to bench us, so keep doing what your doing.” Hotch said. The others nodded, slightly surprised at Hotch’s bitter tone. “And we should probably go back to our desks before she notices.” He turned to leave, then stopped again. “And let’s take a break tonight, go home and get some rest. We’ll start up again tomorrow night.” He said. Then he really did turn to leave. 

“You idiot, why’d you insult me? Now he think’s we’re tired.” Kevin said, punching Kate in the arm. 

“Shut up you imbicile, you’re the one who got hacked.” She said, punching him back. 

“Yeah well you’re the one stressing our boss out.” He said back, he tried to punch her but she evaded him, leaving before he could catch her. 

Hotch went back to his office, still slightly annoyed. Not at anyone or anything in particular, he knew Kevin did his best, and he knew that none of his teammates weren’t giving there all, he was just annoyed at how everything was turning out. He was also annoyed at Vera. The last he had spoken to him was 3 months ago. At first, Vera was very involved in the progress that the team was making, but about 3 months ago Vera had stopped making an effort to meet with Hotch every week. He said it was because his work was taking up a lot of his time, which was understandable, as he was an ambassador, but Hotch couldn’t help but be annoyed that Vera asked such a big favor of them, and then stopped caring. 

Hotch felt that if it wasn’t important to Vera, then the team didn’t have to continue the case, but at this point the whole team was drawn in way to far to let go, and that went for Hotch too. Hotch would be the last to admit it but he was very interested in who these people were, and how they did what they did, and he knew even if he tried to get the team to stop working on it, they never would. 

Hotch was distracted most of the day. He finished his consults and went through the others. He smiled to himself, even though he had told the team to not worry about making the reports perfect, they each had put more of an effort onto their paperwork. After Hotch finished the consults he started reading through the case file of the local murders that had been happening. Tomorrow the team would go into the field, and Hotch got an increasingly bad feeling deep in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn’t right about this case, and there was more to it then what was on the surface. Sighing to himself, he tried to not feel overwhelmed. Between Strauss on his back, the horsemen, and the 6 murders that had happened in his hometown, he felt that he wasn’t going to get much sleep for a long time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n- Heyyyy guys. How are you? Im doing well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know Hotch was a little OOC but he's going to be OOC for this whole story so yeah. ANyways i hope you all have a very wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrate it or just have a nice day.


	5. Chapter 5

Emily stepped over the yellow tape that marked the edge of the crime scene. It was dark, they couldn’t go during the day for fear of being seen by neighbors or people driving by. Emily led the team up the front walk. They had made sure before coming that the victims didn’t live with anyone, and if they had, that they weren’t going to be there tonight. However, the second couple that had been murdered lived by themselves. 

They couldn’t go to the first crime scene. Before the FBI got involved, the local precinct had allowed the forensics team to clean up after they had gathered all the information they could. But after the second murder they had notified the FBI, which meant they couldn’t clean the crime scene until the in-field team had looked the scene over. After some digging by their one and only computer genius, Garcia had found out that the BAU had not yet entered the field, which meant both crime scenes 2 and 3 would still be intact. 

That was where they were tonight. Crime scene 2. None of them liked going to crime scenes. They didn’t like to see the place where innocent people died, but it was necessary to the job. Garcia never even came inside, she stayed in the car with her laptop.   
So it was only JJ and Reid following Emily into the dark house. There were tall trees around the house, shielding the team from wondering eyes. As they walked to the house, they got a history lesson from Reid. 

“Quantico has never had a double murder. In the past, after the Marine Corps and the FBI made their HQ’s here crime has lowered significantly. We have the lowest crime rate in Virginia. The first murders were a surprise, but the second two and the third two? Stuff like this is unheard of to people living here. We shouldn’t have been surprised. A lack of crime here has made the local police officers inexperienced, plus the people here feel safe with the FBI, which means none of them are going to be following curfew rules and safety advice. All of this stuff makes a perfect niche for a seral criminal.” Reid said.   
“But you’d think if the people in town weren’t use to it, they’d be more scared, and they’d be more likely to follow curfew rules.” JJ said. Reid opened his mouth to respond, but JJ continued before he could. “and you would think after the second murder the BAU would be out in the field in a heartbeat, but they weren’t. They haven’t even came to the second crime scene, let alone the third. There’s bound to be a 4th pair of murders, and probably a 5th before they have any significant leads.” JJ said. 

“Right, so you’d think it would be absolutely stupid for people to be going to the first crime scene in the dark without any weapons.” Hissed Garcia. They heard her clearly in their earpieces, but ignored her. The front door wasn’t locked, so they were able to enter without any hassle. The door creaked as Emily pushed it open. They had fallen silent, listening to the house. It was pretty easy to tell that the house was empty. It was quiet, not the normal quiet where you feel like you have to hold your breath or someone might yell at you, but the type of quiet where it feels like even if you did speak, no one would be able to hear you, the silence was so thick that it would swallow any sounds. 

“Can we turn the light’s on?” Reid’s voice cut through the silence. Emily thought for a moment. The tree’s blocked the house from view of the other neighbors, plus it was very late, most people would be asleep. 

“Yeah, can you find the switch?” She asked. They heard Reid shuffle a few steps too the left, and waited as he felt around on the wall until his hand landed on the switch. He flipped it, and they were flooded in light.   
Squinting their eyes getting used to the bright lights, they looked around. The house looked pretty average. It wasn’t huge, but wasn’t tiny either. They were in the front hall. There were stairs leading up on the left, a doorway that led into a living room on the right, and a hallway that they could dimly see the kitchen on the other end. Normally, they would go through the house room by room together, but they had to hit two scenes tonight, so they had decided to split up on the car ride there, much to Garcia’s protests. 

“I’ll check out the kitchen and dining room, just a quick sweep.” Reid said. JJ and Emily nodded. The murder had happened in the bedroom, according to the police report, so Emily and JJ decided to split the upstairs rooms between the two of them. Reid split off into the living room, and Emily lead the way up the stairs. Flipping on lights as they went, they stood at the top of the landing, looking down the hallway. They walked down together, and JJ split off first, she went into the guest bedroom. Emily continued forward, ignoring the occasional jibes from Garcia telling them how stupid they were for splitting up. 

“Have you guy’s every watched The Conjuring? If there’s one thing Roger Perron taught us is that you never split up. Never.” They heard her mutter. Emily continued down the hall to the bedroom, looking down at the carpeted floor, she noticed a weird brown stain. Kneeling down, she opened her bag. Using q tips and phenolphthalein she quickly preformed the Kastle-Myers test, determining that the dried brown stain on the carpet was, in fact, blood. Furrowing her brows, she looked at the stain. It was small and in the corner, she doubted that the forensic team had noticed, as it hadn’t shown any signs of being tested before. The stain was maybe 4 inches long, and a few centimeters thick. It was clearly a drag mark, but Emily wanted to make sure. She called JJ over for a second pair of eyes. 

“You said this was blood?” JJ asked. Emily showed her the Q tips. JJ nodded. “Right yeah, I agree with you, this is definitely a drag mark.” She whispered. Neither of them were sure why they were whispering, but they both felt like it was necessary. 

“Right ok, you can finish looking around in the guest room.” Said Emily. JJ nodded and turned around, heading back into the room. Emily walked slowly down the hall, sweeping the floor with her eyes, looking for more marks. She found one more, this time on the other side of the hall, parallel to the wall just like the other one was. She repeated her process and decided that this one was also a drag mark. After getting up again, she walked the final couple steps to the door at the end. It was open just a little, and Emily could smell the blood from inside. Pushing the door all the way open, she saw that what must have happened in here was a massacre. Just from the small amount of light that leaked into the room from the hall, she could tell that the bed and the floor was drenched in blood. She stepped in, careful to not contaminate anything, and flipped on the lights. Looking around, she half wished she hadn’t turned on the lights. The body’s had been removed, but everything else was intact. It looked like there had been a struggle. Emily slowly walked around. The covers had been strewed across the floor, and the pillows and the sheets were drenched in blood. The floor was covered, as well as the bedposts, in blood. They were dry, as it was carpeted in the room as well. 

Emily spent the next half hour in there, Reid and JJ had joined her after a few minutes. The longer they were in there, the more they felt like something was off, like there was more to this than what was on the surface. They started voicing these thoughts to each other. 

“How on earth, did the neighbors not hear a struggle as big as this one?” JJ asked. 

“You would think there would be screaming, as well as loud noises, look at this, shattered glass against the bedpost.” Reid said, pointing out the vase that had been broken against the post. “How could this have happened without anyone hearing?” He asked. Emily shook her head, she was at a loss as well. To her, this didn’t feel like the site of a murder, it felt like a staged scene, like something you’d see in a movie. She didn’t have anything to back her theory up, so she didn’t bother mentioning it to the group, but she didn’t have too. 

“Im not sure if this is just me, but this doesn’t seem like the murder site, it looks more like someone was trying to make it look like the murder site.” Reid said. JJ hummed in agreement. 

“But why?” Emily asked. “All of the couples had been missing for a week before anyone bothered looking through their houses, all this blood looks about a week old. Why bother killing them somewhere else, then bring them to the house, risk being seen, stage a scene that looks like this, then leave? What does it do?” Emily asked. 

“I mean, it hide’s the real location of the murder.” JJ suggested. Emily shrugged. 

“I mean, If all this blood is the couples, the real murder place probably looks similar. There’s something else about this MO. That the person who did this, or people, didn’t just dump the body in the woods.” Emily said. The other’s nodded. Reid finished taking pictures of the scene, and a few minutes after that, they were leaving. They were careful not to leave any sort of evidence that they were there. They had each worn elastic gloves and made sure they didn’t move anything. They weren’t trying to sabotage the BAU, they all knew that if they hit a wall, they still wanted justice, and if the BAU could do that and they couldn’t, they weren’t going to interfere. But all of them knew that if they couldn’t find the person who did this, then no one could. 

They left the house just as they had left it. Walking a little faster, they hurried to the car, where Garcia was waiting. They still had to go to the 3rd crime scene, and the night was already half over.   
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reid hated going to crime scenes, probably even more then Garcia, but he never complained. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t very happy leaving the house and heading to the car. He was satisfied with what they had learned, and felt confidant that if they were able to gather the same amount of information at the 3rd scene that they did at this one, then they’d be at a good place. He was in a good mood when he stepped into the car. This time JJ drove, and Emily sat in the back with him. They drove in thoughtful silence, but Reid was distracted by a small buzz. Looking over at Emily, he noticed her frown as she looked at the text she had just received. Looking out of the corner of his eye so she wouldn’t notice, he watched her delete the text without responding. Turning back to the window, Reid’s good mood was blown. Emily never deleted texts. Never.


	6. Chapter 7

Hotch was in his office, it was early. He was always the first one in the office. There was a time of serene silence in the office in the early hours of the morning. It was similar to how it was when everyone went home, but still different. He found he did his best work in these times of day, his levels of focus able to stabilize and his productivity shot through the roof.

Hotch was able to finish a whole consult by the time the first two people entered the office. After that, people came in by droves, the silence that was so calming ceased to exist. He didn't mind though, he was itching to start the briefing, they had a long day ahead of them. He kept one eye on his paperwork and the other on the bullpen, waiting for the whole team to get in before calling them in for briefing. Morgan was the last one to enter, and Hotch stood up, hurrying outside, and almost forgetting the case files.

"BAU, briefing room in 5." Hotch said. He headed to the circle table room right away, wanting to get everything set up first. Kevin joined him after a few minutes.

"Good morning sir." He said as he set up the tv.

"Good morning." Hotch replied. After another minute or so, Rossi, Kate, and Tara joined them. Morgan came in last, carrying a coffee.

"Ok, we're all here, Kevin you may begin." Hotch said.

"Right, ok so there have been 3 double murders in the past 2 weeks. Each time it was a couple in their late 20s. The first couple, Sarah Littles and Howard Littles hadn't been seen for around a week before their bodies were found in their houses." Kevin said.

"A week? And their friends and family's didn't report them missing?" Kate asked.

"No, according to them, It was normal for the two to leave without warning and come back after a week or so. It wasn't until the smell attracted the neighborhood dogs that their friends went inside to find the couple. The autopsy report said that the time of death was inconclusive, that the chemicals found on the body could have either preserved the body to make the TOD seem more recent, or it could have done the opposite, but they presume around 3-7 days before they were found was when they were killed." Kevin said.

"You would think that two double homicides in town would be reasonable cause for people to check on them, regardless of if they disappeared a lot or not. What about the second and the third pair of murders? They both have similar times between the time of death and when the bodies were found." Morgan said.

"Well, the third couple, according to the files, were new to town, they didn't have any friends or family here." Rossi said.

"That doesn't explain how no one at work not noticed them missing, did they call in sick or something?" Tara asked.

"We're not sure, the local precinct is fairly inexperienced, and the statements we do have don't give us anything." Kevin said. Hotch frowned. The feeling that something wasn't right with these deaths returned.

"Ok, well we need to hit the ground running today. Rossi, you and Morgan walk the second and third crime scene, the first one has already been cleaned. Tara and Kate, talk to the friends and family of the 2nd couple, they could have more information as to why no one reported them missing. Kevin, you and I will go to the local precinct, set up point, and see how they are handling the media, and make a plan on how we are planning to communicate with the public. We had a brief press conference, but that was only to tell people about the curfew rules." Hotch said.

Everyone nodded, satisfied with their assignments. They had a lot of work ahead of them, but when there was a new case, a feeling of adrenaline courses through all of them, and this one was no different.

Hotch and Kevin drove in silence. Well, almost silence. Kevin had a habit of talking to himself while he worked, and Hotch had him on victimology. He'd sometimes have conversations with himself, narrate what he was doing, or sometimes he even hummed too himself. Hotch had long ago come to understand and learn to live with Kevin, he was something else. Hotch also realized he could learn a lot about the case by listening to Kevin, stuff that Kevin might not understand and put two and two together, but stuff that he could, as Kevin wasn't a profiler.

"The computer shut down, that's odd." Kevin muttered. This caught Hotch's attention, and he watched as Kevin fiddled with his computer. "Powers back on... ok, everything looks normal... oh my god." Kevin said. Hotch turned to look at Kevin.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Kevin looked up.

"Lights green." He said. Hotch looked up and found he was right, ignoring the honks from the driver behind him, Hotch asked again.

"What's wrong?"

"I was hacked, but whoever did it didn't do... anything." Kevin said. Hotch listened to Kevin muttering, but he couldn't help from asking more questions.

"How do you even know you were hacked?" Hotch asked, he was having a hard time focusing on driving, and Kevin's lack of answering his questions did nothing to help that.

"Lynch." Hotch asked again.

"Oh, sorry sir. Hackers, however rare it happens, sometimes want to let whoever they hacked, know that they hacked them. Think of digital worlds as different dimensions, and to get to a different one, you have to build a specific portal in your dimension. When you get through, you close it, if you want too, you can make it so the portal leaves no trace, so no one knows you were there. But if you want, you can leave a portal stub. These digital marks that are unique to the hacker. Whoever hacked me left a very obvious portal stub, but as far as I can tell, they didn't do anything." Kevin said quickly. Hotch nodded.

"So do you have any idea who it is? Do you think you can track whoever it is down?" Hotch asked. He turned into the local police departments parking lot. Kevin chuckled.

"Sir, you know as well as I do that I don't talk down about my digital skills. I'm good, I'm really fricking good. But whoever this hacker is, is better. Whoever it is has left no trace besides the stub, and you can't track down individual stubs." Kevin explained.

Hotch didn't respond as he parked, the thought that the person on the other end of the 'portal' was better than Kevin was troubling. Kevin was the best there is in the FBI. If this person was as good as he said they were, they could cause some serious issues for him and his team. Not to mention, they were still trying to keep this investigation under wraps, and a hacker of this magnitude could end that all for them.

________________________________________________________________________________

Morgan drove while Rossi looked over the files. Both of them knew the kind of stress that all of this was taking on Hotch. Morgan and Rossi had been a part of Hotch's team for far longer than any of the others, and knew that however well Hotch was keeping it together for the team, he was killing himself with these cases. He never gave himself a break. They couldn't worry about Hotch though, this case had them worrying enough as it is.

"Cause of death is hard to tell from the state of the victims. Clearly these kills are personal to the unsub." Rossi said. Morgan hummed in agreement.

"Or unsubs. Ryan Johnson was a big guy. There was no trace of any drugs in him, how could one person overpower both him and Mary?" Morgan suggested. Rossi grimaced.

"True, or whoever killed them could have manipulated him in another way. Holding them both at gunpoint, or even holding just one of them at gunpoint, could have easily controlled either of them. Not to mention the drugs could be out of their system, 3-7 days is a long time for a body to be rotting." Rossi said. Morgan nodded. "The other's all have similar stories. No missing person's report for any of them, but the bodies that were found had all been dead for a least 3 days. None of that makes any sense, you would think someone would report them missing. Especially if it were couples missing. These murders had had a lot of publicity, you'd think people would be more cautious and making sure their loved ones were ok." Rossi continued. They fell silent after that, both thinking about the case.

The 2nd crime scene was a quaint house tucked away from the other houses, surrounded by trees.

"Isolated." Morgan commented as he and Rossi stepped out of the SUV. There was a police car, but nothing else out of the ordinary. Rossi and Morgan approached the house. As they got nearer, the door opened, revealing an officer.

"Hey, you must be the FBI." He said as Morgan and Rossi stepped up the stairs. Extending his hand to shake theirs, they took another look around on the porch.

"Yup. I'm agent Rossi, this is Agent Morgan, care to give us the tour?" He asked. The man nodded.

"Sure, I'm officer Webber." He said, leading the way back into the house. They followed close behind him. "The Johnsons were the complete opposite of this house." Webber said, seeing Morgan and Rossi looking curiously at the artwork and furniture in the house.

"How so?" Rossi asked.

"They were loud people. For lack of a better word. They were adrenaline junkies. Neither of them could hold down a job for over 6 months, they got bored. That's why people weren't worried when they went missing. They disappear for weeks on end all the time. The first two times we filed missing persons reports. We didn't bother after that." Webber said, his personal guilt seeping through his words.

"Just like the first couple." Morgan commented. Rossi hummed in agreement again.

"Were the Johnsons well known?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah. They were pretty popular. It's a small town, it was hard not to know people." Came his reply. He lead them up the upstairs. The hallway was short and lined with carpeting. They walked to the end of the hallway where the bodies had been found. Walking in, Rossi whistled.

"Damn, if this isn't the place where they were killed, the unsub did a hell of a job making it look like they were killed here." He said. Morgan didn't say anything, he was more focused on the scene. There was blood everywhere, and his first thought was 'is there even enough blood in the human body for this?' he knew the answer of course.

Rossi and Morgan spend a half hour at the scene. Then they quickly swept the rest of the house in case the police missed something, but came up empty. They thanked Webber and left, heading to the 3rd crime scene.

________________________________________________________________________________

"How often do you see Mary?" Tara asked Clara Simmons, Mary's sister.

"Almost every day, we eat lunch together every day we can." Clara replied, dabbing her eyes with tissues.

"In the weeks leading up to her disappearing, did you notice any odd behavior in either Mary or Ryan?" Kate asked gently. Clara let out a sharp breath.

"Ryan always acted odd. I never thought they were good together, Mary deserved a nice honest man, but Ryan was not that." Clara said. Tara and Kate looked at each other. There must be a reason Clara is saying this, as most people tend to say good things about the dead.

"What do you mean by that?" Kate asked. Clara cleared her throat.

"He gambled, like, a lot. He was spending all of their money. He was in so much debt. I worried about Mary, neither of them could hold down jobs for very long but Mary tried." Clara sniffed again. "She tried so hard, and that bastard kept taking her money." Clara said. After she said it, she clapped her hand over her mouth, as if she couldn't believe what she had just said.

"I'm so sorry, Ryan and Mary just died, I shouldn't be speaking ill of him..." She trailed off as a fresh bout of tears streamed down her face.

"That's ok Clara, why don't we take a break?" Tara suggested. Kate nodded and the two of them stood up and left the living room of Clara's house.

"So apparently Ryan gambled. Money is often a common motivator for murder, we should tell Kevin to look into it." Tara said once they had shut the door behind them.

"Right. I'll call him." Kate replied. She pulled out her phone and pressed 1, as it was dialed to Kevin's work number.

"Kevin's madhouse for ridiculously helpful information. How may I help you?" He said as he picked up.

"Kevin, can you look into Ryan's back round, specifically in gambling and debt, see if there's anyone who has sent threats, or anything like that. Also look into the other victims, this might be the connection we're missing." Kate said.

"Right you are. I'll hit you back ASAP." They heard him hang up. Kate put her phone away. They thanked Clara and told her they were leaving. On the way to the precinct, Tara spoke.

"Have you noticed Hotch acting, weird? For a lack of a better term." Tara asked. Kate didn't look away from the road.

" I think he's just stressed. I would be too, I mean, of course I'm happy to help him with this case, but his friend, what was his name, Viola? Well, I don't think he's contacted Hotch recently. That's kind of a shitty thing to do." Kate said fiercely. Tara nodded.

"Guild trip your friend into doing something from which he could get fired, then act like it never happened. Agreed. A shitty thing to do." Tara said. "And his name was Vera."

"Right. Anyways, I think the best thing we can do for Hotch right now is just to be there for him." Kate said. After a moment of silence, she added; "And don't ask questions." Tara laughed.

"Truer words have never been spoken."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n- im sorry this took so long lol, I've been really busy. Anyways it's not like people read it lmao, but I truly appreciate those of you who do read it and review, so thank you. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :)


	7. Chapter 7

Emily had always been a very calm person. She was fine. She was always fine. 

Not now.

Not after this.

She had returned from the grocery store. Something so trivial. Something so unimportant

She came back to find them gone. No note, no message, no texts, just gone. 

Their phones were still here, none of their things had been taken. They were just gone. 

Actually, there was one thing that hadn’t been there before that had been left behind. 

Blood.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Despite risking their lives together every single day, the beurocrats didn’t believe they trusted each other enough. Two weeks off for a ‘team building’ vacation. They hadn’t gone to the camp. They decided to stay back and work on Vera’s case. After 3 weeks of running around in circles, the BAU was no closer to finding out who killed the couples. The murders had stopped, and they had exhausted every lead. 

Hotch had went to bed in one of Rossi’s guest bedrooms, as did all of the other members. He woke up to find the house empty. 

His calls were all sent straight to voicemail.

Hotch was known as the team’s emotionless boss, the one who kept his cool in the face of everything. Despite everything shitty that had ever happened to him, he was fine. He was always fine. 

Not now. 

Not after this. 

He had fallen asleep when the other’s needed his help. 

They were gone, and he didn’t know what too do. There was nothing left behind. 

Actually, there was one thing left behind. 

Blood.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There were a lot of thoughts swarming through Emily’s head. There was the voice of reason, trying to tell her that her team had gone out for an early dinner and forgotten their phones, then there was the irritational voice, telling her that they had been arrested, or they had decided to leave the group without telling her. 

The loudest voice of all, though, the voice that was drowning all of the other ones out, the voice of panic. She was panicking. Which was something that never happened to her. It was getting harder for her to breathe, each breath she took was tighter than the last. She felt the pressure in her chest expanding, taking over her whole body. 

It took several minutes for her to calm down enough to think rationally again. 

Explanations whirled through her head, each one more farfetched than the one before it. 

She was already coming to a conclusion. It was the most likely one. 

They were abducted. 

And Emily was sure she knew who was behind it. 

The last few weeks, they had been working on the murdered couple’s case. It was by far the most challenging crime they had ever been faced with. After weeks of questioning victims and suspects by impersonating news reporters, and digging deep into victimology, they had come up empty. It was their two resident genius’s who had come up with the breakthrough. 

Garcia had found one commonality between the victims, and it was that they all had vacationed through San Jose in Arizona on the same weekend 7 years ago. Garcia had explained that this was a hard conclusion to reach, which explained why the FBI, who had a plethora of resources at their fingertips, hadn't figured it out. 

All 6 of the victims had driven through San Jose. This was odd, as the Johnsons, who were supposed to fly to Mexico for 3 weeks, had had a layover in Phoenix Arizona and not San Jose. Their plane tickets showed that it was a 4 hour layover, and that they got on the second flight to Mexico as scheduled, but Garcia had dug through digital receipts and found that they had paid for a lottery ticket at a gas station an hour away from the airport in pheonix. 

The Littles were visiting friends in Seattle Washington. They had decided to drive across country despite the 36 hour car ride. According to their friends and family, this wasn’t odd, as Sarah Littles had a crippling fear of flying. What was odd, however, was the fact that instead of the 36 hour drive it was supposed to be, it took nearly 10 hours longer, because they drove out of their way to stop at San Jose. Garcia had found this the same way was the Johnson’s, a lottery ticket at the same gas station. 

And the Kennedys had family in Carson City Nevada, the pattern repeated itself, as Garcia found a lottery ticket receipt digitally from the gas station dated 48 hours before they reached their families house. It was only an 8 hour drive from San Jose to Carson City, so for 40 hours, the Kennedys were doing something that they didn’t want anyone else to know about. 

Garcia had dug deep into the station’s history, focusing more on the land around it, and what could explain this. They had reached a dead end, and had focused more on victimology the past few weeks, trying to figure out what in these couples past’s could indicate any sort of behavior or explanation for this. So, it was with this new information, patience, and work, they eventually figured out that a warehouse near the gas station had been suspected to be a hideout for an international group of criminals. 

This information was covered by the CIA, and even Penelope couldn’t hack into the CIA’s database unknown. They tied pieces of the case together through this. The unexplained disappearing and reappearing, the separate bank accounts each of the victims had under different names, it all tied together. 

Despite having figured out what had happened in a general sense, they weren’t sure what to do with the information. The news had gone silent, which either meant the FBI had figured out what had happened and gave authority to the CIA who were now investigating without the pressure of the public, or, more likely, they had reached a dead end. 

Emily made the connection on the way home from the grocery store, but the recent problem had driven it out of her mind. It was back though, nagging her thoughts. It seemed like the ring of criminals that they had investigated from Russia too England to Italy, had recently moved to the states. She fought the overwhelming feeling too just give up, and sat down shakily onto one of the kitchen chairs. 

It took her nearly an hour to calm down and figure out what she was going to do. 

Her first thought was worrying just as much as it was comforting. Her team would be kept alive, but what happened to them during this time was unthinkable. Emily didn’t know if they would be kept here in Virginia, or if they would be taken somewhere else. 

Not nearly as tech savvy as Garcia, Emily struggled to power on Garcia’s complex computer system. After Emily had calmed down, she had found that only JJ’s and Garcia’s phones had been left behind, but Spencer’s was nowhere to be found. Hoping that wherever his phone was he was, she tried to figure out how to track the location of the phone. 

Garcia had shown them how to do this, in case she was the one kidnapped, she figured it was smart to have all of them know how to track phones. While Spencer picked up on it immediately, JJ and Emily had a harder time remembering, and didn’t spend enough time practicing, as they thought something like this would never happen. Emily was still cursing her past self as she tried to remember how to do it. 

Finally, after nearly two hours of fiddling around with Garcia’s computer, she was able to track Reid’s phone. She froze, the phone was moving, like it was in a car, and it was already in Georgia. Not thinking twice, she took Garcia’s laptop and her keys, got in her car, and sped away, occasionally glancing at the laptop for guidance, she followed the path that the vehicle carrying her team had blazed. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hotch was a profiler at heart, but his many years a defense attorney had hardened his sense of paranoia. He often fought this feeling, as it got in the way of simple things, but this time he didn’t. 

The first thing he did after realizing that his team had been abducted, was call Strauss. While he was on the phone however, he got the most peculiar sense that he couldn’t trust anyone, not even the workers of the FBI. He recalled his conversation with the section chief and the moments leading up to his harrowing decision. 

“They’ve all been abducted, there’s blood.” Hotch had said. 

“Ok, Stay calm, we’re going to send agents to pick you up, what’s your location?” She had asked. 

Right then, right then was when he was struck in the gut with this feeling, that he couldn’t trust anyone. He faltered, hesitating to give her his location. He was standing at the window, and in a split second he decided what he was going to do.

“I’m at the Khaler Hotel, 47th street.” He said, reading the name of the hotel across the street. 

“What room number?” She asked. 

“314.” He made up on the spot. 

“Ok, stay where you are and do not attempt to contact anyone else.” Strauss said, then hung up, before he could say anything. 

He was pacing back and forth, impatient for the agent’s arrival. He saw 3 black sedans pull into the hotel. 

His blood ran cold. 

It wasn’t the FBI that had come to pick him up. It was the CIA. His team had had their suspicions that Vera had told the CIA that they were investigating, as Kate, Tara, and Luke had all reported that they had been followed subtly by trained agents. He had spent enough time working with arrogant Central Intelligence agents that he knew what government owned vehicles they used. 

Flashback’s to his conversation with Vera before any of this happened flit through his mind. 

“They’ll do anything to make sure nobody finds out. Anything.” 

For a moment he wondered if his team had been taken by the CIA, but soon shot that idea down. Why would they take everyone else but not him? He was in house during the abduction, it didn’t make sense. But he knew he couldn’t go with them. Realizing this, he quickly shut the blinds and backed away from the window, at a loss for what to do. Half a minute later, a rapid knock at the door caused him to jump. 

Glancing out the window that didn’t have the blinds shut, he saw that no agents had yet to come out of the hotel. Deciding to risk it, he looked through the peephole, surprised to see a dark haired woman standing on the other side. Not wanting to draw attention to this house once they agents realized he had lied, (and a woman banging on a door certainly did the opposite), he opened it. 

“What’s there to think about. You stay here you die.” Said the woman again. 

“I’m an FBI agent.”

“If your not worried, why haven’t you gone out there yet? Why’d you lie?” She asked stubbornly. He noticed throughout their conversation that she kept looking at her watch, like she was under time pressure. 

“How do you even know I lied about anything?” He asked, still very confused as too who this was. 

“I’ve had my fair share of close calls when it comes too the CIA.” She said, her eyes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n- Kind of experimenting with my writing style, I hope you still all are enjoying this story :) also merry Christmas! If you celebrate, if not, I hope you're having a wonderful day regardless.


	8. A/n

Just wanted to let you know i'm taking a short break from writing, theres a lot of things going on in life rn, and I just want to give myself a little breather. Thank you for understanding, and dont worry, the stories not over, im not done writing it, i'm just going to take a short break.


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